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Matt Carpenter's grand slam gives St. Louis Cardinals win over Toronto Blue Jays

By Bucky Dent, The Sports Xchange
St. Louis Cardinals Matt Carpenter throws his helmet before touching home plate after hitting a game winning grand slam home run in the 11th inning against the Toronto Bue Jays at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on April 27, 2017. St. Louis won the game 8-4. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
1 of 3 | St. Louis Cardinals Matt Carpenter throws his helmet before touching home plate after hitting a game winning grand slam home run in the 11th inning against the Toronto Bue Jays at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on April 27, 2017. St. Louis won the game 8-4. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

ST. LOUIS -- Matt Carpenter walloped his first career grand slam with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning Thursday as the St. Louis Cardinals wiped out a 4-0 deficit to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-4 at Busch Stadium.

Kolten Wong led off the 11th with a triple down the right-field line against Ryan Tepera (1-1). After Toronto gave intentional walks to Randal Grichuk and Dexter Fowler, Aledmys Diaz flew out to shallow left.

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But Carpenter unloaded on a 3-2 breaking ball from J.P. Howell, sending it 403 feet to the seats behind the St. Louis bullpen in right-center field to cap the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

Matt Bowman (1-0) pitched a scoreless 11th inning for the win as the Cardinals improved to 10-11. The Blue Jays dropped to 6-15 and remain the only team in the majors without back-to-back wins.

One out away from winning its first series of the year, Toronto saw those hopes fly over the left-center field wall. Grichuk launched a 1-1 fastball from Roberto Osuna 412 feet for his third homer, scoring Yadier Molina and forcing extra innings.

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Russell Martin gave the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead in the second with his third homer of the year, belting a 419-foot shot into the bleachers in deep right-center.

After loading the bases on walks in the sixth, Toronto upped its lead to 3-0 with a two-run single up the middle by Ryan Goins.

The Blue Jays made it 4-0 in the seventh on Justin Smoak's sacrifice fly against Tyler Lyons, who was making his season debut.

St. Louis played sloppily most of the game. It committed a pair of errors, giving it eight in the last three games, lost a pair of runners at second base and made 12 outs on first and second-pitch swings.

Even its first run carried a whiff of failure. Grichuk singled home Jose Martinez in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, but was thrown out easily at second when Smoak cut off the throw from center field.

Carpenter added an RBI single in the eighth for the Cardinals, who outhit Toronto 13-9.

Both starters received no-decisions despite fashioning quality starts. Toronto's Mat Latos worked six shutout innings, giving up three hits and walking four while striking out four.

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St. Louis' Carlos Martinez pitched six innings as well, yielding five hits and three runs with three walks and eight strikeouts.

NOTES: St. Louis 1B Matt Carpenter returned to the lineup for the opener of Thursday's day-night doubleheader after serving a one-game suspension Tuesday night for his actions following his ejection Sunday in Milwaukee. ... Toronto will add RHP Danny Barnes to the roster for the nightcap as its 26th player. The teams weren't allowed to add the 26th man for the opener because Wednesday's postponement was rescheduled with less than 48 hours notice. ... The Cardinals will add RHP Sam Tuivailala to their roster for the nightcap.

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